Mercy Hospital

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. Now, every good story has a before, and the before on this one is a grim piece of arithmetic. As transportation grew through Atascosa County — highways cutting across the land, more vehicles moving faster — the accidents came with it.

Then 1952 rolled around, and the county recorded thirteen fatalities and many serious injuries. Thirteen. They called it the bloodiest year in Atascosa County history.

That's not a nickname you want. And the hard truth sitting underneath that number was this: when the wreck happened, when the surgery was needed, Atascosa County didn't have a hospital that could handle it. The two small hospitals over in Poteet and Pleasanton were not equipped for major trauma or complex surgical procedures.

Something had to be done. So the county did what Texas communities do when the need gets critical enough — they got to work. A federal grant was on the table, but only if the community and the county could match it.

And friend, they matched it. Fundraisers, week after week, for two solid years. Not once in a while.

Weekly. For two years. You want to talk about devotion — that's what it looks like before there's even a building to show for it.

Ground was broken, and on December 30, 1956, they threw open the doors for an open house of a state-of-the-art facility. The land itself had been donated by the Whitfield family, given in memory of Mr. Ray Whitfield.

Right there, before anyone ever walked through for care, the place was already carrying someone's name and someone's love. To run this new hospital, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Incarnate Word of Victoria agreed to take on management. And they didn't just manage from a distance — they worked there, lived there, for very little pay.

They kept at it that way all the way until 1987. That's the kind of commitment that makes a building into something more. The hospital kept growing into its purpose.

In 1968, the Mercy Hospital School of Vocational Nursing was established right there to meet the demand for nurses. The county had built the hospital; now the hospital was building the people who'd keep it running. Then the 1980s came, and change came with them.

Another management group took over, and the name changed — Mercy Hospital became Tri-city Community Hospital. And when South Texas Regional Medical Center opened at another location in March of 2000, the original facility was abandoned. Stood empty.

And in 2012, the building was demolished to make way for the new Jourdanton Municipal Complex. But here's the part that lands a little different, if you let it. When they tore it down, the bricks from the old Mercy Hospital building were given to anyone who wanted them.

People reached out and took a piece of it home. That's not nothing. That's a community holding onto something.

The marker sums it up about as well as anything could: the devotion of the people from all over Atascosa County, and their efforts, made Mercy Hospital worthy of its name — that more may live. Thirteen fatalities in one year was the wound. A whole county raising money week after week for two years was the answer.

They named it Mercy, and then they earned the name.

What the marker says

As transportation increased through Atascosa County with the creation of major highways, the number of vehicular accidents and fatalities increased. In 1952, thirteen fatalities and many serious injuries were reported as the “bloodiest year” in Atascosa County history. The need for a hospital became critical, as the two small hospitals in Poteet and Pleasanton were incapable of handling major trauma and complex surgical procedures. Ground was broken on a new hospital after a huge community and county effort to match a federal grant. Fundraisers were held weekly for two years to raise the funds. An open house of the state-of-the-art facility took place on December 30, 1956, on land donated by the Whitfield family in Mr. Ray Whitfield’s memory. The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Incarnate Word of Victoria agreed to manage the hospital. These sisters worked and lived at the hospital for very little pay until 1987. To meet the demand for nurses, the Mercy Hospital School of Vocational Nursing was established in 1968. In the 1980s, another management group took over the operation of the hospital, changing the name to Tri-city Community Hospital. After South Texas regional medical center was opened in March of 2000 at another location, the original facility was abandoned. The building was demolished in 2012 to make way for the new Jourdanton Municipal Complex. Bricks from the old Mercy Hospital Building were given to anyone who wanted them. The devotion of the people from all over Atascosa County and their efforts made Mercy Hospital worthy of its name that more may live.